Every time Jerusalem decides to embark on a military operation in the Hamas-run enclave, it finds its military superiority over Gaza’s terrorist factions canceled by a wave of shrieking reporters and pundits as soon as the first brutal images of war surface

There are still many lessons to be learned, and the government especially should not wait for the next violent escalation to find a better strategy for the Hamas-run Strip; maybe it is time to recognize it as an independent state

Not content with merely refusing to solve the crisis, Hamas is actively making it worse. A major factor in the crisis has been the overload of patients caused by Hamas’s insistence on holding violent mass protests near the Israeli border every week for almost a year now.

Israel is right now dealing with two constant security headaches. One is Iran’s efforts to establish a permanent presence in southern Syria across from the Golan, the other is Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist activity in Gaza threatening the safety and security of Israelis in the south. Looking at the way in which Israel has been enormously successful in dealing with the first one yields some lessons for what Israel might do to mitigate the omnipresent second one.

Life in the Strip is for the most part superficially back to normal two years on from the 2014 war, but that isn’t the full story. [….] Hamas once enjoyed broad popular support in Gaza, but these days support is waning.

The IDF is preparing for the next round of fighting with Hamas, which is expected to be much more intense than in previous operations. Yet, the spark which may start the fighting this time will be different. The Gazan population is at its boiling point, and when it explodes, the entire region will feel it.

Chilling images show children as young as six firing guns and staging mock kidnapping of Israeli soldier. Up to 10,000 boys at a time visit camp in the Gaza Strip; Explosions and burning tyres used to make mock warzone realistic; Believed purpose is to radicalise the terrorists of tomorrow

Besieged by Israel and the West, which regards it as a terrorist group, and cut off from the Palestinian majority in the West Bank, Hamas has little to offer beyond its jihadist credentials — and the promise of clean government. So it’s hardly surprising that the party has been rapidly losing ground in its stronghold. Recent surveys by leading pollsters conclude that if elections were held in Gaza today, Hamas, an acronym in Arabic for the Islamic Resistance Movement, would not be returned to power. A June poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that Hamas would get just 28% of the vote, a steep decline from the 44% plurality it won in 2006.

In assessing the condition of the 1.6 million people who live in Gaza, there are issues of where to draw the baseline and — often — what motivates the discussion. It has never been among the world’s poorest places. There is near universal literacy and relatively low infant mortality, and health conditions remain better than across much of the developing world.

“[I]nternational law does not require Israel to supply Gaza with fuel or electricity, or, indeed, with any other materials, goods, or services. [….] Dependence on foreign supply […] does not create a legal duty to continue the supply. Absent specific treaty requirements, countries may cut off oil sales to other countries at any time.”